Sixth Day of Christmas

December 31
Whatever caused us to enter despair, the specific circumstances which gave us our ticket beyond the comfortable and known, something is certain – we feel helpless, and rightly so, in the face of such atrocity. How can we possibly go on? How can we ever see beauty in the world again? What we have seen has revealed to us just how tainted the world really is. We are right. We cannot stand alone in the face of such injustice. No one asks us to, except our own false ego. Here, at our realization of helplessness against the tide, is where we give up. We die. Rather, our false self dies and we are left with the person God created us to be. Sounds so simple, so “Oh, I’ve done that now, let’s move on.” It’s not. It’s painful and cyclical as we spiral ever upward and deepward on our journey. And every time it reminds us more fully how much we need the cross. The cross is our sixth gift of Christmas, for at its feet we place our failings and inadequacy and they are transubstantiated into gifts of community and hope. Merry Christmas!
Patrick